Under the Tuscan Sun - day one
Trip Start
Apr 23, 2012
1
24
32
Trip End
May 24, 2012
Where I stayed
with Mark & Dottie
Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Slept in til 9, lovely. Up for breakfast and chatting. There was a knock and a lady who is staying on a floor above aw hanging out wash and had dropped a towel which had fallen into the courtyard. Then I got to meet Valerie,who is working with Dottie making plans for the Sunday School here at S. James. They stayed to work while I set out on my first walk.
My Oh My! Taking in just a smiden of the sites to be seen. Down the via Palestro to the Arno. On the corner is the American Consul.So if I get into trouble I won't have far to go. Along the Arno River, across on the Ponte Alla Carraia, and toward the Ponte Vecchio. As I walked along the north side of the river I saw two guys crewing and down on a landing a couple of people practicing a dance. After crossing the river the walkway stops and I had to go a short block up to continue to the Ponte Vecchio. But what a street. Lots of really neat shops, I could have really maxed out my credit card, if I haven't already! And such a variety of shops - I really liked that street.
Now to the Ponte Vecchio - it's 400 years old and the only one that the Nazis didn't destroy when they evacuated Florence. Now it's full of gold and jewelry shops with a few souvenir vendors thrown in. And lots and lots of tourists! I was drawn to a pair of earrings in one shop window. Two lovely young women offered to assist me. ( I really believe one was American.) I pointed out the item that I liked and was asked if I wanted to try them on. No, I replied. To make a long story a little shorter. After a couple of discounts they would only have cost me 210 euros. No, I didn't want to try them on! In my next life I plan on being independently wealthy and I can buy the gold bracelet that I liked!! HA-HA
Wandered over to the Piazza Della Signoria - this is where the David copy stands, in front of the Uffizi, where the original stood until they took him inside. Also here is Neptune's Fountain and the Loggia. ( So much to see and do here these entries may get long.)
Back to the via Calimala looking at all the shop windows. This street changes names ( as do most of the streets here) to the via Roma where you come upon the Piazza Della Repubblica. There is a hugh arch of histrorical interest here and a cool merry-go-round, and I do love merry-go-rounds!
Just down the via Roma you come to the Duomo and the Baptistry of San Giovanni (and yes I am writing this with my map and a guide book beside me!).. More on all of this later. From this point I head back toward home. Down the via De' Panzani, almost to the train station and there is the church Santa Maria Novella with it's piazza in front. Where the facade of the ancient Duomo was entirely covered in marble in the late 19th century, only the front of Santa Maria was covered. You can still see the original at the back.
And I still haven't been inside anything.
Comments
already I want to return to Florence!